Magnet

Hello John, It’s refreshing that you have taken time and shared your knowledge, and more importantly meaningful experience, to try to advise someone who has sought advice on this forum. What a shame that the original poster has not returned to the forum since the day and time he first registered. From a personal point of view, I seem to spend quite a bit of time and effort in trying to help on here, but I am rapidly getting to a point where I am beginning to think twice about bothering, since it does take a fair amount of time and interest to share experiences, and there now seems to be an increasing number of post-and-run folks signing up, or return visits or requests for further information. Very little feedback, even less acknowledgement, and the word ‘thanks’ seems to a word which must be difficult to spell! That’s my rant for the day, and possibly a biased opinion, but.... Ta, ta, to this lot??! Anyway John, we must live in hope that your valid experience may be of help to someone else in the future. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Paul, Welcome to the forum, and many thanks for the detailed report on your issue. Without meaning to be patronising, your description of the problem, and actions taken, is certainly the textbook way to do it - but unfortunately such posted detail is rare - so many thanks again. Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable than me will be along and offer advice regarding these issues with your specific engine type. Unfortunately, my experience is more broad brush, so I can only comment on possible causes that may apply to other marques and models, but here goes:- Your cold and hot starting issues may be associated with fuel mixture control - i.e. not rich enough to start instantly from cold, and too rich to do likewise when hot. If (in caps.) this is the case, the problems could be associated with a faulty coolant temperature sensor (if fitted) - normally referred to as a CTS. The CTS is screwed into the coolant system, and senses the temperature and signals a suitable voltage to the ECU which decides the correct mixture for the coolant temperature at that time. Upshot:- coolant cold, then mixture will be set to rich; hot, and weaker. Now if this sensor fails, it usually does so to an average default signal -as if the coolant temperature as someway between cold and normal. Symptoms would then be more difficult cold starting since the mixture would not be rich enough, and too rich for hot starts. Possibly the offender with your car??? EPC.and starting issues :- Again very much non-Audi:- worth resetting the throttle position (sensor). Really not sure with your car, but with some non-Audi, it can be as simple as switching on the ignition and pressing the accelerator to the floor 5 times then switching off. You mention fitting an aftermarket sensor which you are not happy with. Good! My soapbox time again:- avoid aftermarket sensors (possible exception Bosch) wherever possible. Cost is not king. Incase it helps. You can buy genuine VAG parts, mail order at discount, from Discount Audi Parts, Cardiff (or similar arrangement of words) - part of Mon Motors ( Cardiff Audi). No connection - other than having experience their services- and no doubt there are others. Anyway Paul, simply some food for thought while others come to your assistance. Many thanks again for being in touch, Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ian, Please don’t quote me on this, but do your own research. Some (many?) marques are fitted with not only a coolant temperature sender, which controls the temperature gauge readings, but also with a coolant temperature sensor (CTS) which signals the ECU to control the mixture depending on the coolant temperature. Yours fitted with this system?? These are generally in close proximity - if fitted. Of course, your high fuel consumption may have nothing to do with either of these. Depending on what you consider to be ‘high’ it is likely you would benefit from some basic investigation via. a trusted local diesel specialist. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello? Take it you have renewed the fob batteries. If so, the there numerous suggested re sync. ing procedures via. Google, which are worth a try, but none worked for me with my ‘spare’ fob. If they still don’t work via. the above, then if it were mine, I would be taking it around to a local independent and asking for an estimate to reprogramme them. Armed with this quote, you can then decide if it’s worth investing or simply advising potential buyers that it will cost £x to fix. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Matt, Many thanks for sharing your unfortunate experiences with these tyres, and if there is a positive side to this, it’s no injury has occurred, but.... Of course, you have joined a long list of others with similar experiences, but few have reported back on the outcome. The response from the tyre retailer seems a standard response, - if the manufacturer says they are faulty we will refund you, etc. To me, you didn’t buy the tyres from the manufacturer, you bought it from the retailer, so if they are obviously defective -as they are obviously seen to be, then it is reasonable to expect the retailer to reimburse you, and not await a decision from the manufacturer. One course of action would be to take advice on whether you can take the retailer to the small claims court and obtain damages and associated costs via. this route. Kind regards, Gareth.

There you are Marcus. Always worth sitting down, giving it a good coat of thinking about, mix in a little bit of calculation, and happy days as you say now!

Thanks Marcus, So it would seem you have worn 1.4mm of tread off the 3mm it was when you bought it 3 months ago - assuming your tyres are still just legal at the 1.6mm tread level. You will have covered just under 4,000 miles in this time, so with a bit of maths, a pro rata estimate of the life of a c7mm tread new tyre would be around 20K miles - pretty good in my book Marcus. Kind regards, Gareth.

All very helpful information for the original poster. Shame he has not returned to the forum since 2 days after posting.

Hello Adrian, Until someone more knowledgeable that me on this comes along, ‘standard type clutch arrangements on automatic gearboxes’?? Probably exposing my ignorance here - but no worries! Never too old to learn. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Tim, Thanks for the question. You don’t tell us the width and profile of the tyres on the current 17 inch wheels - hope these are the original size wheels since that is important. It’s not going to be possible to comment on your proposals until you give us this information since the theory is that whatever the outside diameter of the original wheels plus tyres are, that rolling diameter must be maintained when fitting larger wheels - so the more wheel, the less tyre height (profile) you are going to get away with. While we await that information, it worth bearing in mind that (sorry, but probably the bleeding obvious) lower profile tyres will result in the ride quality approaching that of fitting solid tyres! Other points :- OK, it may be looked upon as ‘looking smart’ with larger wheels, but in reality, it means nothing to the driver since he cannot see the wheels when he is driving the car! - so the beauty is simply in the hands of some other ‘passer by’ person. Couple that with the need to inform your insurer that you have non standard wheels fitted to the car, and it may all become a bit of - why bother? Anyway Tim. Current tyre sizes, and known to be a standard fitment on your model? Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks Marcus, As I’m sure you will appreciate, trying to give sound and meaningful advice on any motoring forum will be highly influenced by the amount of detailed information the poster adds - frequently not enough in the these days of minimum word usage texts etc.- since those trying to help do not enjoy the benefit of actually examining the car. Now if the given detail is known to be wrong, then obviously no one has got any chance of offering sensible advice! Sorry Marcus, but you still don’t tell us the make of the tyres you currently use and actually how long they are lasting, and whether the wear patterns are even. Could you do us a kindness and walk around the car and let us know what make of tyre you have on each wheel as a start? Kind regards, Gareth.

Wow Marcus - ‘......to last more than 5k miles....’ Even the cheapest budget tyres should last more than that, unless driven very, very enthusiastically. As I said, if you want tyres to give the best? mileage (in relation to how driven) then I would still maintain that Michelin are certainly worth considering. OK, they are more expensive to buy, but when judged against the mileage likely to be obtained ( mileage/£) then they may become of interest. If your driving style could be looked upon as being enthusiastic, then of course road holding considerations will obviously also need to be considered. If your driving style isn’t enthusiastic, and your car isn’t fitted with budget brand tyres, and you are still getting less than 5K miles, then I would be looking at the wear patterns to ensure all the geometry is within reasonable limits. Perhaps you could fill in a little more detail. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Marcus, Any reason you are possibly restricting your voice to these brands - competitively priced? I have been using Continent Contact 5 on an older A3 (c£70 for 16 inch) and they seem reasonable enough, but not as long lasting as the Michelin we used to use. In my experience in over 150k miles in this car, Michelin have given the best miles/£. Not sure of any of this helps. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Peter, Wondered if you have a similar issue, or simply an general interest in how this planned out. Perhaps you could let us know. As you will probably realise, the original poster joined and last posted within 1 week of joining - some 2 1/2 years ago- so getting any response from him??? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello ? (It would help us if you filled in your name, and the model and year of car) , Most likely, you were told the car would be serviced on a Longlife Service basis i.e. the car would run until somewhere around 18k miles or about 18 months - whichever comes first. You tell us the mileage the car has covered, but not it’s age - important to determine what service plan you might be on. Perhaps you could come back to us. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Peter, All in good humour - you really should not be saying ‘..........owner...........is actually such a dipstick.....’ Not nice! Predictive text eh! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello John, Sorry to hear of your problem. Water ingress is really annoying, and tends to downgrade an otherwise nice car. Reasons? Could be blocked drains in the plenum chamber (if it has one). If it does, it will be the chamber which is below the ‘vents’ forward of the windscreen. You usually have to remove the plastic section around the vent/s - which could be under the bonnet, and check if there is any water/dampness in the bottom. There should be drain holes at the bottom , but these can block up with small leaves and other debris over the years - the trapped water will then tend to run into the car via. the bulkhead. Other possibility? - Does the car have a sunroof? If it does, it becomes a valid suspect. If I doesn’t, your are lucky, since they can become a real pain! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Richard, Thanks for the additional information. My system doesn’t react too well to the attachment, so I’ll pass on that. By what you say, it sounds as if this engine has been well on truly toasted, and may have been driven to a point where it even lost (considerable?) power. It would also seem the reason for that overheating was not solved. Low on oil? Does it now use any significant amount of oil as well as the coolant? Let’s hope not, but if so, it worth thinking about the worth of simply replacing a head gasket on a now worn engine. Now knowing the history, it probably sounds as if it’s hardly worth having the coolant system pressure tested, since its using a significant amount of coolant, but... Oil cooler contamination? It would be reasonable to expect that If this is the source of the coolant loss, then you would expect to see evidence in the oil, and/or oil in the coolant. One simple ‘test’ you could try would be to take the car on a run of at least 10 miles ( having ensured coolant and oil are to the correct levels - and obviously keeping an eye on the temperature gauge). Straight away after, get someone to rev. the engine to 2000rpm and hold it steady for at least 2 minutes, while you observe the exhaust - looking for white or blue smoke. Not a conclusive test but always worth doing. Summary:- in view of its history, I would think the overall health of this engine needs assessing before deciding what’s worth doing or not. Of course, this can only be done by actually inspecting the car. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. If you do decide to have the coolant system pressure tested - simple and inexpensive - and fingers and everything else crossed- it turns out to be OK, then it would be worth changing the reservoir cap.

Hello Richard, A couple of important bits of detail to fill in:- Why did the car overheat last summer? Overheated to what extent - running time? What if anything, was done to investigate/ sort that problem? How much coolant is it currently using in x miles? Since the garage has found evidence of leak sealer additive, can we take it that that has not been added during your ownership - which is how long and mileage covered? Did the garage carry out a pressure test on the cooling system? Compression test results - It appears that the cylinders showing a misfire code are the two with the highest compression pressures - strange! 140psi is obviously lower than the rest, and may (in caps) be the cylinder into which the coolant is leaking, but... It would be difficult to clearly confirm HGF at the moment - until there are some answers to the above, but it doesn’t sound good. Perhaps you could come back to us, and I should be able to suggest another test which would be useful before dismantling. Kind regards, Gareth.

Although I applaud your intention to go it alone on this Dawn, my pessimistic head points me to think that the opposition may be just too much for an individual to take on. Appreciating that legal representation is expensive, but so was entering into buying the car in the first place, and to get out of it will I’m sure, need legal expertise. If you have legal cover with your car insurance then it might well be worth trying there first. Alternatives might be via. trade unions etc. or possibly no-win-no-fee representation. Ombudsman referrals may be considered to be fine, but judging by my recent success with an energy issue, I would not be putting too much faith in that route! I genuinely wish you good luck with whatever you decide, and again, many thanks for keeping the forum updated. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dawn, I admire your persistence. As previously suggested, I would have sought professional legal advice some time ago. First step - Ombudsman and Watchdog? Um? Of course, you will appreciate that you will still be operating ‘on your own’. Why not CAB as the starting point? I’m sure they will offer you sound advice and guidance/assistance in moving forward, and will have far more clout than your in-isolation approach. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Nick, If coolant is entering the cylinders in sufficient quantities to cause this serious symptom, then you really don’t have to worry about whether the coolant is actually mixing with the oil. Point of ingress of coolant? Could be headgasket, or inlet manifold etc.so some degree of dismantling is obviously going to be necessary to locate the problem. I’m sure it goes without saying that any attempts to try to start the car could result in damaging conrods, pistons etc. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on from here. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello John, That looks like one heck of a lot of sophistication to me, to believe the seller would be extracting £50 out of a buyer’s pocket, and doing the buyer a disservice, but... Still, it looks like the original poster joined, and last visited the forum, all within 2 days! May have ridden off into the sunset on it! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Andrew, Thanks for coming back. My next move would be to swop front wheels to back to see if there is any difference. Probably nothing to do with it, but just as a matter of interest - are the front tyres matching makes (what make?) and treads wear? Discs and warping? So called warping can be as a result of the hub to disc interface being corroded on the hub face, resulting in the disc not sitting properly. It surprising how this is often overlooked and the rusty or just knocked off and the new ones tapped back on. In effect, the discs aren’t warped at all, but the symptom suggests they are. Keep us posted Andrew. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Of course, the investigation now needs to get deeper and indeed looking at suspension, braking and steering.

Sorry Keith, but I cannot solve the mystery other than having attempted to explain the possible reasoning - no doubt Audi can?? Ref. the inference that there is indeed something wrong since the manual is written in English? We who drive on the right, very often ignore the fact that we are in a (small) minority when it comes to the overall world car production which is very highly biased to left hand drive, and car design is invariably built up and developed in LHD form - as we now well know - outside of the U.K, and being outside the UK, the manuals will be written in the manufacturer’s language and translated (in caps but I try not to shout!) into English. On top of this, it is highly likely that the manuals are largely generic - but I am repeating myself and boring everyone. As a matter of interest, if you look at TV adverts for cars, they are now generally shown in LHD form and even have caveats written on the bottom of the screen to effect that ...’ might not get all of the colours in all of the size in the UK! ....’ To box it up Keith, it seems you have to accept that the HSW options are not an option! , in this case, so I guess it’s no HSW, or moving to another manufacturer who can give you want is important to you. Sorry I cannot offer any more theories or possible explanations, but I would be surprised if the truth does not rest within some of the above. Kind regards, Gareth.